Parabolic microphone systems, a general term denoting audio capture systems using a central microphone in front of a curved, rear reflector that may exhibit a wide variety of shapes but designed to concentrate and focus audio information at the microphone, have been used in a wide variety of circumstances by military, fire/rescue and broadcast companies. The benefits and advantages of concentrating sounds in a highly directional manner has become a common tool for remote reconnaissance, monitoring, assessment and lost sound capture. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,017,122; 2,049,586; 2,228,024; 3,483,940; 3,881,056; 4,037,052; 4,264,790; 5,452,364; and 6,408,080 the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference. See also copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/472,559 filed on May 16, 2012 entitled “Acoustically Isolated Parabolic Sound Pickup Assembly” the disclosure of which is also incorporated herein by reference.
Parabolic microphone assemblies can be found commercially from several vendors. The support designs of each fall into one of a limited number of categories. The first is a pole-mountable frame with a vertically-oriented cylindrical tube rigidly welded to a tubular frame with arms that extend around the back of the parabolic reflector and is secured to a planar lip formed around the perimeter of the reflector. A microphone mounting assembly extends across the front of the reflector between the support frame arms and is similarly secured to the lip of the reflector.
A second type of parabolic reflector support is based on a pair of vertically-oriented, tubular handles with a pair of arms extending from the vertical handle. Each arm is secured to a point on the lip of the reflector so an operator must use both hands to support and aim the reflector to capture the desired sounds. The microphone support extends across the front of the reflector and attaches to the lip of the reflector at a location intermediate the points of attachment for each handle.
A third type of parabolic reflector support is intended for handheld support and aiming. One such type of device uses a single handgrip at the rear of the reflector from which the microphone assembly extends into the parabolic field through a hole in the reflector.
In most of the embodiments, the device is designed for larger, commercial events where broadcast-quality sound is important and the venue can justify the employment of an audio engineer to monitor sound collection and quality. There exists a need, though, for smaller devices that can be mounted on a handheld 35 mm or video camera for simultaneous operation by the videographer. The sound quality and strength remain just as important, but the circumstances may not afford the space or opportunity for a separate audio engineer.